Free Forgiven by Rebecca Brooke Page B

Angie’s. I pulled out my phone as I walked to the car.
     
    Me: Hey, leaving the field now.
     
    Angie: Great see ya in a few
     
    Me: Pizza special requests???
     
    Angie: Anything but mushroom and anchovies
     
    Me: Extra cheese w/ pepperoni?
     
    Angie: Perfect
     
    I ran over to my favorite pizza place before heading to Angie’s apartment. When I got there I rang the bell at the front of the building. Of course it was just my luck that Emily answered.
    “Who is it?” Her voice came from the speaker on the wall.
    “Emily, it’s Caleb. I‘m here to see Angie,” I replied.
    “Whatever. I’m on my way out, so I’ll let you in when I come down.”
    Great, how long was I going to have to wait for her? After about two minutes she came down the stairs and opened the door.
    She stopped and held the door for me to go in, but not before giving me a warning. “I’m not sure what is going on with you and her, but what I do know is that she has been hurt enough in her life and doesn’t need your shit. Get the project done, but if you cause her anymore problems, I will kick your ass,” she warned as she walked toward the parking lot.
    I walked up the stairs to the apartment and knocked on the door, hoping Angie’s other roommates were home. A petite blonde opened up the door. “Hi Caleb,” she said as she let me into the apartment.
    “How did you know—?” I started to ask.
    “Please, everyone knows who you are,” she laughed. “Football’s newest rising star. Plus, we’ve had many conversations about you in this apartment over the last week.”
    I shook my head, “Do I even want to know?”
    “Probably not,” she laughed again.
    “Great,” I mumbled.
    She smile at me, “I’m Heather, by the way.” She held out her hand to me.
    “Nice to meet you Heather.” I answered, shaking her hand.
    “Angie, you’ve got company,” she yelled down the hall, disappearing into the first room on the left. Angie came out of the first room on the right, and one look at her and my heartbeat sped up. She’d looked amazing in the library, but today—in just jeans and sweater—she was downright enticing. I could see her curves, but they still left plenty to imagination. And shit, my imagination was running wild.
    “Hey Caleb,” she said with a frown.
    Shit, was she still mad about earlier? I had to fix this somehow, but before I had a chance to say anything, Heather came bouncing out of her room. “I’m outta here. I’m picking Jillian up from work, then we’re heading to dinner. Are you meeting us out later?”
    Holy shit, she was like Speedy-fucking-Gonzales. I could barely keep up with her.
    “Probably not, I really want to get this project done tonight,” Angie answered.
    “Okay, have fun and behave yourselves,” she replied with a wink before she blew out the door.
    Angie just shook her head and came over to grab the pizza from me. She took it to the kitchen counter and got some plates.
    “What do you want to drink?” she asked as she grabbed a couple of glasses from the cabinet.
    “Whatever,” I shrugged.
    “Is diet soda okay?” She asked, looking into the fridge.
    “That’s fine,” I answered, watching her.
    Wow, things were really awkward. I needed to figure out how to get us back to how we were in the library yesterday.
    “So, how did you meet Heather?” I asked hoping she would help me break the uncomfortable silence.
    “Actually Heather and Jillian came with the apartment,” she laughed.
    Laughter was good. “They came with the apartment?”
    “Uh-huh. Em and I wanted to get out of the dorms but since we were only sophomores it would have been hard for us to get into one of these apartments without living with upperclassmen. Jillian and Emily had a class together last year and it turned out that Jillian and Heather were trying to move into these apartments as well but needed two more people, so it worked for all of us,” she answered.
    She put two pieces of pizza on each plate and